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Moleskinerie is the official blog of Moleskine® and it is completely dedicated to you. It tells about your passions, youradventures, your experiences. Everythinag that involves your ideas and the way you express them on your notebooks.

Witold Riedel on Drawing

25/09/2006

TMN: Tell us about your process for drawing on the subway: do people stare at you while you’re drawing? Do you like to sit in one spot versus another? Are some people or objects better subjects than others?

WR: Subways feel like very controlled environments, one could almost think of them as short-distance, low-cost airliners of the underground. A group of random people is locked into a moving metal container, doors shut tight, the world a dark blur outside as soon as the train leaves the station. It is a very confined space in which most of the participants are very aware of their surroundings. One has the linear experience of moving from one destination to the next and there is a shared experience of unannounced and constant turbulence. It is not the smoothest ride; the cars here in New York have no rubber tires like the metro in Paris, for example.

I am pretty sure the other riders keep an eye on me, as I draw in my tiny black book.

I’ve actually had a few people react to me drawing next to them. All reactions so far have been very positive. This might have something to do with the fact that some of my drawings tend not to resemble anything or anybody immediately visible in the car, or maybe because I really enjoy the conversations.

I also like to draw in nearly empty cars, in the evenings, or late mornings, on longer rides on local trains."